


Quiet Taps

by AnonymouslyDead



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Baltimore State Hospital, Imprisonment, M/M, Morse Code, Post Fall, escape planning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24883426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymouslyDead/pseuds/AnonymouslyDead
Summary: Will and Hannibal deal with being captured and imprisoned again.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 16
Kudos: 149





	1. Chapter 1

Well, they got caught. That thought alone didn’t bother Hannibal too badly. He was very familiar with the Baltimore State Hospital For the Criminally Insane, and he doesn’t doubt his ability to organize his escape.

But Will had gotten captured too. They had been strapped down and loaded into separate trucks which was a smart move on the hospital’s part. Hannibal knew Will was here- he saw Will’s truck when they escorted him off his own- but he didn’t know where. 

The thought stirred unease in Hannibal. He certainly didn’t doubt his own ability to escape. But without knowledge of Will’s own imprisonment, escape would be much more difficult. 

The possibility of leaving him behind crossed his mind only for Hannibal to dismiss it as quickly as it had come. After Will had finally accepted Hannibal? After he’d kindly given himself over to himself to his darkest desires? 

Never. The idea was utterly repulsive. That still left his current predicament however. Hannibal paced around his former cell, thinking it over. His cell was refurbished, he noted. His cot and toilet had been returned. He had at least had that dignity now. 

“Welcome back, Hannibal.” Alana greeted. Hannibal paused and looked, watching Alana walk into view of his cell’s glass window. He turned towards her smiling. 

“Alana. I see you're doing well.” Hannibal let the greeting roll off his tongue easily. “Tell me, how is Margot and Morgan?” 

“They’re fine. Certainly relieved now that you’re finally behind bars once more.” Alana said. She sighed and gestured inside his cell. “You’ll see I’ve given you back some of your things.” 

“Yes, that’s very kind of you.” 

“It really is.” Alana assured him, her tone biting just a bit. “I should’ve left you in your empty cell after all you’ve done, but I was feeling generous.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Yeah.” Alana nodded. “You’ll get your bed and toilet for now. Behave, and we’ll see about those books and your old drawings.” 

“How nice. I hope you offered that same kindness to Will.” Hannibal slipped in easily, hoping for Alana to slip some information. Alana leveled an unamused look at him. 

“Will is fine, Hannibal. As fine as he can be after running with you.” Alana snipped. 

A faint knocking sounded just after she finished. Alana looked away from Hannibal’s cell, sending a tight lipped frown down the hallway to another cell. It was the way her eyes read her recognition that interested Hannibal though. 

“You have to take that?” Hannibal asked. Alana gave him a look before walking away. Hannibal listened as her footsteps and the click of her cane grew fainter. Hannibal could hear voices, but they were jumbled by their echo along with the scrapes, steps, hums, and voices of activity around him. 

Still, it was something interesting. Hannibal held onto that idea til later that day when night started to settle in. Orderlies stopped walking around as much and inmates fell quiet with sleep, leaving only the hum of fluorescent lights. 

Here, Hannibal walked up to the glass wall of his cell. He knocked on it, taking in the quiet sound it made. Then, he went to the holes that allowed outside parties to talk to him. They were small enough that Hannibal couldn’t quite fit his hand through. If he really tried, he could slip a few through which was fine with Hannibal. He slipped his middle and pointer finger through the hole and tapped on the glass. 

A low, hollow sound sounded. He can’t hear if the sound carried down the hall, but he waited for a response. Hannibal waited a few seconds yet no response. He tried again, tapping as hard as he could. 

This time, another tapping sounding, this one in a strange pattern. Fast tapping mixed with short pauses sounded really faintly from down the hall. The pattern sounds familiar, itching at Hannibal’s mind. He turned over the memory of the sound a few times before it clicked. It was his name. 

Clever. Hannibal smiled, feeling a rush of fondness. Hannibal rifled through his memories, digging up a perfect image of a morse code chart he had studied his first time in this cell. With that in mind, he tapped out. 

“Will? He tapped out though he already knew the answer. Still, the answering yes was appreciated. “Are you okay?” He continued. 

“Fine. Are you okay?” 

“Back to a cage.” Hannibal tapped back in a long string. 

“Sorry.” was all Will tapped back. Hannibal suspected he meant it with a dry tone considering he was in the same predicament. 

That was when it hit him that he won’t be seeing Will anymore. After their time on the run, not having Will around to talk to, to touch, and see sounded dreadful. He had grown accustomed to Will’s presence as a part of his life. Already, his white cell felt empty without him there. 

Having only tapping to talk by was going to get old fast, he knew. 

“I’ll miss you.” Hannibal promised in taps, showing a touch of his melancholy. He remembered the long three years he had spent in this cell, biding his time and waiting for Will to understand his design. How dreadful it would be to relive that time. 

“Miss you too.” Will tapped back. “Won’t be here long.” 

Hannibal smiled at that. He doesn’t know if Will had faith in him to find a way out or if he himself was planning something. Either way, it inspired a hope Hannibal hoped to carry on with. 

“They’ll catch on.” Will tapped out a warning. Hannibal raised an eyebrow. 

“Let them.” He answered. “What more can they do?” 

“A lot.” 

“We can do a lot.” Hannibal promised, and he meant it. Will doesn’t have an answer for him though. 

That’s fine though. Hannibal’s hand was cramping from how he forced it through the hole. Still, he tapped out a goodbye and promised to talk more before removing his hand. It pulsed uncomfortably along with a slight sting. A red line had formed along his palm where it had been pressed into the glass. 

Hannibal took his hand into his other, rubbing out the strain as he went collapse onto the small cot. The sensation of thin sheets on an uncomfortable bed was strange, but he let his thoughts overwhelm his discomfort. 

This cell won’t hold him again, and it won’t keep Will. That much he promised. They just needed the smallest lapse to be freed again. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Hannibal and Will are communicating.” Frederick said. He watched a monitor, taking in the faint taps of the audio bugs around Hannibal’s cell caught. Hannibal tapped and then waited before tapping some more.

When Frederick didn’t get a response, he sent an incredulous look at Alana. “You don’t look very concerned.” 

“I’m not. Of course, they’d find a way to communicate.” 

Frederick’s eyes widened. “Alana, we can’t have this. The last we allowed them communication, they ran off on a happy murder spree.” 

“If we would’ve kept them completely though, how fast do you think Hannibal would have been clawing his way out again?” 

“So, Will is just a toy? Something to keep him engaged enough to keep him in place?” Frederick thought it over, but he didn’t look any less disturbed. “I don’t like this. It won’t be enough. They already found a way around the arrangement after a week.” 

“We’re doing all we can to monitor their communications? Do you have a better solution than that?” Alana snipped. Frederick held up his hands. 

“Your liver is on the line as much as mine. I would just rather keep all of my organs for once.” Frederick said darkly. He ran a hand over his face, his fingers seeking the grooves and scars of his face. Alana frowned at him. 

“With Hannibal, that’s not possible.” Alana asked. 

“Well, a man can dream.” Frederick said sourly. 

“Why didn’t you just leave then?” 

“Same reason you’re here with me instead of at home with your wife and kid.” 

“Ah.” Alana nodded. “Reassurance.” 

Meanwhile, Hannibal continued to tap away on screen. 

*************************************************************************** 

“How are you?” Hannibal tapped out. 

“Food is shit.” Hannibal quickly deciphered from the responding tapping. Hannibal let himself give an amused smile. 

“Spoiled, are we?” Hannibal teased. The quick, indignant knocking back earned a laugh. 

“You’re one to talk.” 

“Been through worse.” Hannibal knocked. His amusement grew grim with thought. Invasive memories threatened to take over his mind, throwing him into a dreadful mood. He shook his head, and pushed it away. “Will admit I am used to a certain style. I’ll cook for you soon. Promise.” 

His hand ached from the long sequence, a feeling he was quickly getting used to as the days passed. He extracted his hand from the holes and shook out his hand. His fingers continued to ache. He rubbed at the digits with a slight worry. Hopefully, they won’t have to keep this up longer. 

“I’ll find something for dinner. Perhaps a widower.” Will promised. The thought sent another rush of fondness, thinking of Will bathed in the blood of his enemies and the wild purpose he moved with. But then, he thought over the second part. Curiosity filled his mind. 

“Do tell.” Hannibal tapped out before posing himself to listen. 

“Let me have magazines. The Winnepeg Widower. Wife disappears after husband's death. No trace. Started from Winnipeg. Moved down to-” 

“Oh my god, SHUT UP!” The voice started as a yell and escalated to a scream. Hannibal looked to the left wall, his lip drawn into a tight line. 

“A moment.” He tapped out to Will. He moved towards the wall and knocked against it. 

“Stop! Fucking stop” 

“Excuse me, I’m trying to have a conversation.” Hannibal said in an even tone. 

“It’s driving me crazy!” The voice shouted back. 

“What troubles you so much about it? Compared to the noise during the day, it’s hardly something to snap over.” Hannibal asked. 

“I hate tapping.” 

“Any reason for that?” Hannibal moved towards his cot and sat down, staring at the wall. In his mind, he visualized his office with some stranger sitting across from himself. 

“None of your business.” 

“Well, I am a physiatrist.” Hannibal said calmly, swallowing back his growing anger at the person beside him. “I’d say it is my business.” 

Hannibal heard a quiet snort. “Hilarious.” 

“My name is Doctor Hannibal Lector.” 

“I know who you are, the Chesapeake Ripper.” The voice said. 

“Ah. I see. I’m afraid I don’t know nearly as much as you though. What is your name?” 

“George.” 

“Well, George, why don’t you tell me something about yourself?” Hannibal offered, hoping that George would take the chance to say something, anything that Hannibal could use. Much to his luck, George spilled everything. Hannibal smirked as his mind compiled a plan. 

************************************************************************************* 

“Hannibal?” Hannibal didn’t hear Will tap until the next day. This time, no one yelled at him for it. “What happened?” 

“Had a talk with George. He wouldn’t be a problem.” 

“Good.” was all Will responded with. Hannibal smiled. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Hannibal.” Alana eyed him. Hannibal looked her in the eye out of politeness. “What did you say to George Hariss?”

“I merely tried towards the roots of some of George’s issues.” Hannibal said. Alana scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

“They should take your license for that one.” She remarked, pushing her cane downward for a solid clack. “You will be getting a new neighbor soon enough. Do try to behave yourself or I’ll have you in diapers again.” 

Hannibal doesn’t bother with a response, only watching her move out of his line of sight. Farther away, the sounds of Alana and her cane faded into the sounds of squealing carts and squeaking footsteps. A hint of bleach wafted in. Probably for the blood. 

************************************

His next cell neighbor was against the late night tapping; however, there were far ruder sounds to be heard than yelling. Hannibal ignored it for the most part, knowing he’d rather to have such a minor inconvenience than shredding his already frayed dignity. 

There are smells, too, ones that make him grimace as they pop up at odd hours of the day. He supposed there isn’t much to occupy oneself in these walls. 

But, that is no excuse for what happened to the woman that comes to visit. 

Hannibal only caught a glimpse of her, but he listened. He caught her faint southern drawl shaping around “Will Graham, I am Clarice Starling with the FBI.” as clear as bells. The rest, however, blended in with the usual footsteps and chatter. 

Hannibal’s mind buzzed, piecing together what Will has given him. He smiled at his own conclusion. 

But then, there were the offending noises followed by the familiar stench. The shout in surprise, however, was new as was the sound of Will’s voice carrying loud enough for him to hear.

Clarice came stomping back down the hallway; indignation clear across her face.

“Hello Clarice.” 

She stopped, eying him up. It was clear in her eye she knew who he was. Hannibal chose to ignore the mess in favor of confirming the culprit. Once he had that, he offered a sincere apology before letting her go on. 

Will expressed a similar sentiment, tapping out a question as to what they talked about. But, that was all he had to say on the matter. No Winnepeg Widower. No explanation for the FBI agent stopping by his cell. Just-

“Do me a favor and behave yourself.” Hannibal grimaced slightly at the message. If it was anyone else, he might have considered it rude, but there was something there. Will had something, and Hannibal had a certain idea as to what it was. 

But, there was also an issue of manners. 

Unfortunately, his new cell neighbor didn’t make it through the night; the poor thing swallowed his tongue. Facility officials wheeled him out in the morning, quietly replacing him with a new inmate. 

Alana eyed him that morning as she made her rounds, but she moved on with another steady clickclickclick. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comment what you think and hit kudos if you like it


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